Search Results (863)

Heavy metal(loid) contamination in shallow groundwater poses increasing risks to drinking water safety and human health in agricultural plain areas. In this study, 39 shallow groundwater samples collected from rural wells in Huaiyuan County, northern Anhui Plain, China, were analyzed for seven heavy metal(loid)s (Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, As, and Mo). The mean concentrations followed the order Mn > Ni > Cr > Zn > Mo > As > Co, and all elements exhibited high spatial variability (CV > 100%). Exceedances of the Chinese Class III groundwater quality standard were observed for Cr, Mn, Ni, As, and Mo, with Ni (43.6%) and Mn (38.5%) showing the highest exceedance rates. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed that groundwater heavy metal(loid)s were mainly controlled by two dominant factors: (i) a transition-metal enrichment factor related to lithogenic background and diffuse anthropogenic disturbance, and (ii) a localized factor controlling the co-occurrence of As and Mo. Human health risk assessment indicated that Co and Mo were the major contributors to non-carcinogenic risk, whereas As dominated the carcinogenic risk. Monte Carlo simulation showed that children faced the highest non-carcinogenic risk, with a mean HI exceeding the safety threshold and an exceedance probability of 28.2%. For carcinogenic risk, As posed a substantial threat, and the exceedance probabilities of total carcinogenic risk reached 67.8%, 66.1%, and 37.0% for adult females, adult males, and children, respectively. These findings demonstrate that shallow groundwater in the study area is affected by both natural hydrogeochemical processes and localized external disturbance and that As, Co, and Mo should be prioritized in groundwater risk management. Full article

Objective: To systematically review the effects of family-based physical activity interventions on the mental health of children and adolescents and identify potential moderators. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Elsevier, Web of Science, Cochrane, and three major Chinese databases for randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials on family-based physical activity interventions targeting mental health in children and adolescents aged 5–19 years. Searches were conducted through 10 February 2026. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Meta-analyses were performed using CMA 3.3. Results: Eleven studies involving 1160 participants were included. The random-effects model indicated that the overall pooled effect size for family physical activity interventions included in this study was (g = 0.443, 95% CI: 0.272–0.614), suggesting that family physical activity interventions, regardless of their specific components, are generally associated with improved mental health in children and adolescents. Further analysis revealed that this overall effect reached statistical significance in the positive mental health dimensions (e.g., self-esteem, emotional well-being) (g = 0.467, 95% CI: 0.271–0.663), whereas it did not reach statistical significance in the negative psychological symptoms dimensions (e.g., depression) (g = 0.358, p > 0.05). Subgroup analyses indicated that intervention location (home-based group g = 0.26 vs. non-home-based group g = 0.55), intervention duration (≤3 months, g = 0.54 vs. >3 months, g = 0.36), and program type (non-multicomponent programs, g = 0.26 vs. multicomponent programs, g = 0.55) showed no statistically significant differences in their effects across groups (p > 0.05). No significant effects were observed in the overall meta-regression model. Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that family involvement may provide a more conducive setting for physical activity interventions targeting children and adolescents; overall, such interventions are associated with improvements in positive mental health. However, this finding should be interpreted as a composite estimate of intervention programs across various heterogeneous factors, such as different modes of family involvement and program components, and their effects on reducing negative psychological symptoms remain unclear. Future research should further refine the composition of these interventions and conduct high-quality, long-term studies to clarify their key components and long-term effects. Full article

Fathers are globally recognized as influential figures in children’s development, yet the specific mechanisms linking paternal beliefs to preschoolers’ social adjustment remain insufficiently explored. This study examined the sequential mediation effects of father involvement and the father–child relationship on the link between paternal progressive beliefs and children’s social adjustment (indexed by social competence and problem behaviors). A stratified random sample of 1862 Chinese mother–father dyads (3724 individual participants) was recruited. Structural equation modeling showed that the following: (1) Fathers’ progressive beliefs had a direct positive association with children’s social competence, and a small but significant direct positive link to children’s anger–aggression behaviors; (2) The associations between the fathers’ beliefs and children’s social adjustment were indirectly explained by a sequential mediation process: beliefs were associated with greater father involvement, which, in turn, connected to fostered closeness or increased father–child conflict, ultimately leading to more positive adjustments through closeness, or to more negative adjustments via conflict. This study also uncovered discrepancies between mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of the fathering process. Notably, due to the lack of parallel measures of maternal constructs, these findings reflect paternal contributions within the family system rather than unique effects. These findings were discussed within the transitional context of culturally specific Chinese fathering. This study extends the traditional “parenting beliefs–practices–outcomes” framework to include the parent–child relationship, highlighting the importance of targeting fathers’ effective relationship-building practices in family programs. Full article

This study investigated how word frequency, word length and visual complexity affect lexical processing during Chinese sentence oral reading, and whether these effects differ between developing and skilled readers. Third-grade children and adults read sentences aloud while their eye movements were recorded with an EyeLink 1000 Plus eye-tracker. Linear mixed-effects models revealed three main findings. First, children showed larger word-frequency and visual-complexity effects than adults, indicating less efficient lexical processing in developing readers. Second, word length moderated the effects of word frequency and visual complexity. Frequency effects were amplified for two-character words, whereas visual-complexity effects were stronger for single-character words on early measures and followed a different pattern on some late measures. Third, at the sentence level, children exhibited shorter forward saccades, more regressions and longer total reading times than adults. These findings provide developmental evidence for the visual and linguistic constraints hypothesis and show how visual recognition and overt phonological output jointly shape foveal lexical processing in Chinese oral reading. Full article

Background: Dietary cystine may influence lipid metabolism, but epidemiological evidence in children is limited. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary cystine intake and dyslipidemia and its subtypes in Chinese children. Methods: Data were derived from the China National Nutrition and Health Surveillance of Children and Lactating Mothers (CNNHSCLM). After propensity score matching (1:1, caliper = 0.2), 3676 children aged 6–17 years (1838 with dyslipidemia, 1838 controls) were included. The Quantile g-computation (qgcomp) model assessed the joint effect of 20 amino acids. Multivariate logistic regression, subgroup analysis, restricted cubic splines (RCS), and five machine learning models (including XGBoost with Shapley Additive Explanation (SHAP) analysis) were applied to evaluate the association between cystine intake and dyslipidemia. Results: The qgcomp model showed that cystine had a negative weighting contribution to reducing the risk of hypo-HDL cholesterolemia. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that cystine intake was significantly negatively correlated with hypo-HDL cholesterolemia (OR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.53–0.86, p = 0.002) and total dyslipidemia (OR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.74–0.96, p = 0.010), but not with other subtypes. Subgroup analyses indicated interactions with BMI and sex. RCS showed a non-linear dose–response relationship for hypo-HDL cholesterolemia and a linear negative relationship for total dyslipidemia. The XGBoost model achieved the best predictive performance (AUC = 0.902), and SHAP analysis identified cystine as the most important feature inversely associated with dyslipidemia. Decision curve analysis confirmed its clinical net benefit. Conclusions: Dietary cystine intake is negatively associated with the risk of hypo-HDL cholesterolemia and total dyslipidemia in children, and cystine is an important negative correlate of dyslipidemia. These findings provide new scientific evidence for dietary prevention of dyslipidemia in children. Full article

Cooperation is an important influencing factor for individual morality and harmonious social development. Currently, most scholars select adult samples and adopt laboratory research methods. They have found that compared with asynchronous behavior, interpersonal synchronization (including both intentional and incidental synchronization) is significantly associated with higher levels of cooperative behavior. Does this conclusion apply to Chinese children? Childhood is a critical period for the development of cooperative abilities. Therefore, more effective educational approaches for fostering cooperation should be explored and adopted to promote children’s cooperative behaviors. This study randomly selected 193 students aged 8–11 (95 boys and 98 girls, M = 9.74, SD = 1.16) from 5 primary schools in a city. Based on a 2 (intentional synchronization, incidental synchronization) × 3 (measurement occasion) mixed design, a field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different types of interpersonal synchronization on children’s cooperative behavior. However, the results showed that neither asynchronous behavior nor incidental synchronization significantly improved children’s cooperative behavior. However, the level of cooperative behavior under intentional synchronization conditions was significantly higher than that under incidental synchronization conditions. This characteristic may be related to China’s long-standing collectivistic education, which can help educators reflect on and optimize their cooperation education practices. This finding deserves attention from cooperation researchers. Full article

Working from home (WFH) has increasingly been adopted globally as a family-friendly arrangement that enables employees with greater family responsibilities to reconcile work and family demands. However, little is known about which parents take up WFH in the Chinese context. Using nationally representative pre-pandemic data from the China General Social Survey 2015, this paper examines the sociodemographic determinants of parents working from home in China, with particular attention to gendered patterns among mothers and fathers. The results show no statistically significant gender difference in the overall likelihood of WFH among parents. However, the sociodemographic determinants of WFH show different patterns among mothers and fathers. Specifically, Chinese mothers are more likely to WFH when they are engaged in non-standard employment arrangements and do not live with grandparents, whereas Chinese fathers are more likely to WFH when they are employed in the agricultural sector and hold more traditional gender role attitudes. A positive but weak association is observed between the number of children and mothers’ likelihood of WFH, while no such association is found among fathers. In addition, unlike in Western contexts, WFH uptake among Chinese parents is not found to be concentrated among more advantaged groups. Full article

Human adenovirus type 7 (HAdV-7) is a significant pathogen responsible for viral community-acquired pneumonia in children. To date, no specific antiviral agents have been approved for clinical use against HAdV infections. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) mixtures have shown promising potential in managing viral pneumonia. This study aimed to evaluate the antiviral activity of Yuanzhixingrenheji (YZ), a hospital-prepared TCM formulation from Beijing Children’s Hospital, against HAdV-7. Initial screening of four hospital formulations (Feiyanheji, Qingjieheji, Yindaizhikeheji, and Yuanzhixingrenheji) using a CCK-8 assay revealed that YZ exhibited the lowest cytotoxicity. In vitro, YZ pretreatment and post-infection treatment exhibited dose-dependent antiviral activity against HAdV-7 in A549 cells, significantly suppressing the DBP mRNA level and protein expression while reducing viral genome copies, HAdV-7-GFP fluorescence, hexon fluorescence, and DBP nuclear localization. In the hDSG2^+/+ C57BL/6 mouse model of HAdV-7 infection, YZ effectively mitigated infection-induced body weight loss and substantially reduced viral loads in lung tissue. Furthermore, a clinical retrospective analysis indicated that YZ treatment significantly decreased post-hospitalization serum C-reactive protein levels of pediatric patients with HAdV infection in various disease severities. Compared with conventional treatment, YZ treatment also significantly reduced peak temperature and shortened the duration of fever in children with HAdV infection, supporting its therapeutic potential. In summary, this study provides the first integrated evidence from in vitro, in vivo, and clinical retrospective investigations, demonstrating that the TCM mixture YZ has significant anti-HAdV-7 activity and clinical efficacy. Characterized by a favorable safety profile and low economic burden, YZ is a promising candidate for the treatment of pediatric adenovirus pneumonia. Full article

Mathematical abilities are critical for the developmental outcomes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about these abilities and their association with the approximate number system (ANS) in preschoolers with ASD beyond Western samples, including Chinese children. This cross-sectional study examined whether formal and informal mathematical abilities differed between children with and without ASD and assessed the extent to which these abilities were associated with ANS acuity. Participants included 47 children with ASD and 47 typically developing (TD) children aged 3–7 years. All children were assessed on measures of formal and informal mathematical abilities, ANS acuity, and non-verbal IQ. No significant group differences in mathematical abilities were found among children aged 3–5 years. However, among children aged 6–7 years, the ASD group showed significantly lower performance in mathematical abilities compared to their TD peers. ANS acuity was significantly correlated with both formal and informal mathematical abilities in the ASD group, but only with informal mathematical abilities in the TD group. Furthermore, ANS acuity accounted for 5.4% of the unique variance in formal mathematical abilities specifically within the ASD group. The patterns of mathematical abilities and their relationship with ANS acuity differ between preschoolers with and without ASD. These findings suggest a differential association between ANS and formal mathematics learning in children with ASD, highlighting implications for the design of early numeracy interventions. Full article

White lie-telling reflects children’s integration of moral cognition and situational adaptation, yet its mechanisms in prosocial dilemmas remain understudied in Chinese cultural contexts that prioritize “face-saving”—a core construct that shapes interpersonal behavior in Eastern societies. This study investigates how situational cues and developmental differences shape children’s white lie decisions by disentangling the interactive effects of external expectations and recipient presence. A total of 629 children aged 4–11 years (Study 1) and 6–11 years (Study 2) participated in two studies using a modified “painting evaluation task” Study 1 manipulated emotional expectation and recipient presence to establish baseline situational effects, while Study 2 introduced target expectation to create a prosocial value conflict between providing immediate emotional comfort and supporting long-term developmental goals. The Study 1 showed the highest white lie rate under the “emotional expectation + recipient presence” condition, with white lie rates exhibiting a significant developmental increase with age. Binary logistic regression identified these two factors as critical predictors of children’s white lie behavior. In Study 2, amid such prosocial value conflicts, older children showed lower white lie rates than younger peers, who prioritized others’ long-term goals via cost benefit analysis. Notably, recipient presence still moderated face-saving decisions, even for older children. This research makes three key contributions to the field. Firstly, it integrates Chinese “face culture” into situational manipulation, highlighting recipient presence as a culture-specific moderator and mitigating the Western-centric bias in prior research. Secondly, it constructs a prosocial moral dilemma to uncover children’s developmental transition from emotion-driven to value-based rational decision-making, extending existing developmental theories on moral cognition. Thirdly, it advances understanding of prosocial lying motivation beyond blind empathy by quantifying the interactive effects of dual expectations and revealing that children engage in deliberate cost benefit analysis that aligns with others’ overall long-term interests. Full article

This study provides a systematic review of research hotspots and trends in the field of parent–child reading, covering the period from 2005 to 2024, based on data retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Web of Science (WOS). The results indicate that both Chinese- and English-context research on parent–child reading focus on the family literacy environment, the impact of parent–child reading on child development, social support systems, and educational equity. Chinese research places greater emphasis on family reading, family–kindergarten collaboration, and father involvement. This research mainly examines parental guidance strategies and pays particular attention to current practices, especially in rural areas. It highlights the role of fathers in reading, with picture books being the most commonly used reading materials. In contrast, English-context research focuses more on language development and early literacy, with particular emphasis on the development of children’s literacy skills and school readiness. Greater attention is also given to multicultural and minority groups, the role of mothers in reading is more frequently emphasized, and the reading materials are predominantly storybooks and wordless books. Research in both Chinese and English contexts reveals that parent–child reading interactions serve as a channel for the transmission of cultural values, leading to distinct developmental priorities for children. These differences profoundly reflect the systematic influence of sociocultural logics on parental reading behaviors and related research. This analysis provides an empirical foundation for future international collaboration in cross-cultural research. Full article

Children are among the most sensitive groups to air pollution. This study focuses on Chinese children aged 0–16 years, integrating six waves of tracking data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS, 2012–2022), the ChinaHighAirPollutants (CHAP) dataset, and MOD11A1 land surface temperature (LST) data, covering 20,241 samples across 25 provinces. Using the eXtreme Gradient Boosting–SHapley Additive exPlanations (XGBoost-SHAP) framework, we quantified the relative contributions of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and climate factors to children’s respiratory disease risk. The overall area under curve (AUC) was 0.6765, with urban and rural sub-models achieving 0.6576 and 0.6864, respectively. SHAP analysis revealed that the temporal variable ranked first, reflecting population-level improvements from 2012 to 2022; age ranked second, with a 70.1% prevalence in the 0–6 age group. Rural PM_2.5 contribution was approximately 1.68 times that of urban areas; the O₃ effect showed opposite directions between urban (risk) and rural (protective association) settings; solid fuel contribution in rural areas was approximately 2.25 times the urban level. Regional clustering analysis identified differentiated environmental drivers across five geographic types. These findings provide a quantitative basis for differentiated regional prevention strategies. Full article

Aims: This study aimed to examine the associations between both birth weight (BW) and body mass index (BMI)/waist circumference (WC) measured at ages 7–10 years, and adolescent overweight (OW)/obesity (OB), and central OB at ages 11–13 years. Methods: Longitudinal data were collected from children’s and parents’ questionnaires. Anthropometric data were obtained from health check-ups. BW (kg) was categorized into three groups: <3.0, 3.0–3.9 and ≥4.0 (macrosomia). Underweight (UW)/normal weight (NW), OW and OB were defined based on sex- and age-specific reference values for Chinese children. Central OB was identified using the sex-specific waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) cutoffs. Results: Of the 1204 children, 14.5% had a BW < 3.0 and 15.6% had macrosomia. The rates of OB and central OB were 10.13% and 28.32%, respectively, among children aged 7–10 years and 6.23% and 23.34%, respectively, among those aged 11–13 years. An increasing BW z-score was associated with higher odds of OW/OB in girls aged 11–13 years. Childhood BMI and WC z-scores were associated with higher odds of OW/OB and central OB, respectively, at ages 11–13 years. Childhood OW/OB and central OB were associated with a higher risk of OW/OB and central OB, respectively, at ages 11–13 years. Conclusions: BW was modestly associated with OW/OB in girls. Childhood BMI was the strongest predictor of OW/OB, while childhood WC was a strong and significant predictor of central OB in early adolescence. These findings highlight that early school age is a critical period for risk identification and the implementation of future preventive strategies. Full article

Background: Psychological distress has been increasingly recognized as an important determinant of sleep quality in children and adolescents. However, susceptible subgroups have not been clearly identified. This study aimed to examine the associations between psychological distress and sleep quality in children and adolescents. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 5771 school-aged children and adolescents (6–18 years) in Zhejiang Province. Psychological status was assessed using the Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, and sleep quality was evaluated using the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Thyroid-related biomarkers were measured via chemiluminescence immunoassay. Associations between psychological distress and sleep quality were analyzed using generalized linear models. In addition, stratified analyses were performed to identify potentially susceptible subgroups by age, sex, and BMI-for-age z score. Results: Each one-point increase in depression, anxiety, and stress scores was associated with an increase in PSQI scores of 0.18 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.19), 0.20 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.21), and 0.20 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.22), respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that the associations were more pronounced among older children (age > 12 years) and pediatric females. Exploratory mediation analyses suggested a possible but very limited indirect role of T3 in the associations of depression, anxiety, and stress with sleep quality, with all estimated proportions mediated below 1%. Conclusions: Psychological distress was significantly associated with poorer sleep quality in children and adolescents, particularly among older individuals and pediatric females. These findings highlight the importance of early identification and intervention for psychological distress to improve sleep health in younger populations. Further longitudinal studies are needed to clarify underlying mechanisms. Full article

Speech sound disorder (SSD) is common in childhood and can persist, adversely affecting language, literacy, and social functioning. Yet consonant error patterns in school-age children, particularly in non-English-speaking populations, remain insufficiently characterized. Short-term memory (STM) supports phonological processing and speech learning, but its relationship with SSD severity in school-age children is not well established. This study profiles consonant errors and short-term memory in school-age Chinese children with SSD and examines short-term memory correlates and predictors of disorder severity to inform targeted interventions. A total of 142 Mandarin-speaking school-age children with SSD were recruited. For the short-term memory analyses, we randomly selected 70 children with SSD and recruited 70 typically developing controls. Speech was assessed using a word-level picture-naming task to derive consonant accuracy and characterize error types/patterns, and short-term memory was measured with the WISC-IV Digit Span (forward and backward). Substitutions predominated for most consonants, and individual phonemes often exhibited co-occurring error patterns. In addition, school-age children with SSD showed significantly poorer short-term memory than typically developing peers across multiple indices. Notably, backward digit span was positively associated with consonant accuracy and remained an independent predictor of consonant accuracy. These results advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying SSD and provide an evidence-based rationale for future interventions that combine speech-focused therapy with cognitive training to enhance clinical outcomes. Full article